It still remains "Lionel," the maker of quality electric trains and accessories. Unlike Atlas O and MTH, Lionel has a highly detailed pedigree that involves everything from an upper floor New York City office to a massive postwar showroom to a cereal corporation office to a factory in Michigan to a factory in Asia. 5th, 1900 and a mere corporate organization has existed since Sept. Would it be more accurate, then, to say that "Lionel" as manufacturer has existed since Sept. Would this, perhaps, be the "bond of connection?" Some CTT writers speak of the "original Lionel Corp." What is Lionel, LLC then? A scam? A fake? A reproduction that collectors should watch out for? Clearly, a transaction was made some time ago that bound together once again the Lionel name and corporate history with the Lionel product, which was unfortunately divorced from the former in 1969. At the same time, Wellspring bought the remaining rights to the Lionel Corporation name." Kughn and Young also sold LionTech to the group. Kughn kept what he describes as a "small interest" in the company and was made chairman emeritus. On September 29th, 1995, Kughn sold them all of Lionel, including the train name and the tooling. "Young formed a group with Wellspring Associates, an investment firm headed by the late Martin Davis (who was involved with Gulf & Western and Paramount Communications) and investor Greg Feldman. Ron Hollander, in his excellent book about Lionel, All Aboard! mildly comments on this in the closing chapters of the 2000 edition of his book: be that "bond of connection?" This is akin to suggesting that "although my family is biologically related to by great-great-grandparents' family, there is no direct connection between the two families." Well, would not the name, the product rights, the trademarks, the products, etc. "Although Lionel, LLC now owns all of the trademarks and most of the product rights associated with Lionel Corporation, the original producer of Lionel trains founded in 1900, there is no direct connection between the two companies." The Wikipedia article regarding Lionel, LLC cynically puts it like this: What is the great mystery behind this affair? The Lionel Corporation as it existed between 19 is seen by many to be a polar opposite of "Lionel, LLC" as it has existed since 1995.
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